NFB launches pay multiplatform service for docs

The National Film Board of Canada is launching the service for docs which it hopes will become "the Netflix of documentaries," allowing filmmakers to be connected "almost instantaneously with their audiences."

The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is expanding its interactive offering with a multi-platform subscription service that will bring high quality auteur documentaries to an international audience.

The destination, available on the Web, connected TV and mobile devices in 2014, will offer interactive documentaries and content that is curated, bilingual, and eventually multilingual. The NFB says it is aiming to create “the Netflix of documentaries.”

Using the NFB’s existing investments in digital platforms, systems, infrastructure and content development, the service will launch first in North America and Europe.

Users will be able to access films from around the world, and create their own playlists, which they will be able to share with others. Documentary and subject experts will also guide viewers through the offerings.

The NFB hopes to partner with other companies, and act as an initiator and promoter of the project.

“We are acting as a catalyst,” said Tom Perlmutter, government film commissioner and chairperson of the NFB in a statement. “We will be implementing and developing this service in co-operation with prestigious national and international partners.”

“We are convinced that this new service will be an enormous boon to the global documentary community. It will build audiences, enable documentary creators and filmmakers to be connected more directly and almost instantaneously with their audiences, and serve as a commissioner of original documentary programming,” he added.